It is known that the bumper of a motor vehicle can be protected by means of a strip which generally occupies a zone of the skin of the bumper that is the most exposed to rubbing against obstacles such as the bumpers of other vehicles, particularly while parking. The strip can have the same color as the bumper or it can be of a different color, depending on the look of the vehicle.
Such a strip is generally fixed in place by snap-fastening, and for this purpose the strip has resilient tongues on its longitudinal edges that penetrate into slots in the skin of the bumper.
The resilient tongues extend horizontally into the vehicle and project from the inside face of the skin of the bumper. By moving vertically, they can engage the skin, returning resiliently towards the outside of the strip, i.e. upwards for the tongues on the top longitudinal edge of the strip and downwards for the tongues on the bottom longitudinal edge of the strip.
That method of fixing serves to hold the strip in place, but it suffers from certain drawbacks.
Firstly, it has been found that the strip tends to shrink after molding, curling up on itself in vertical section so that the tongues on the top and bottom edges of the strip move towards each other, weakening them when it comes to fastening them to the skin of the bumper.
In an attempt or resolve that problem, fluting has been added to the skin in order to support the tongues horizontally and prevent them from moving towards each other while the strip is being removed, however such fluting makes it more difficult to put the strip into place.
In addition, the room available inside the skin of the bumper is not always sufficient to allow the snap-fastening tongues to extend far enough. A metal cross-member reinforcing the bumper is often located close to the skin thereof, which makes it necessary for fixing the strip to provide holes in the cross-member for receiving the resilient tongues.